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I bet you can’t name one student over the age of 18 that doesn’t own a highlighter…

That’s because highlighting is often an important part of note taking, reading and studying - especially in college! College students are inundated with information overload and use highlighters daily as a tool to cut through the clutter to help them clarify, organize, and synthesize subject matter. Highlighting helps to cut down the excess so that students can more easily focus on the main concepts that are important to them and study more effectively and efficiently.

Highlighting correctly can be very helpful for students, however it can often be a distraction when done incorrectly. Have you ever looked back through your textbook after reading a chapter only to find either, A) You had so perfectly colored every page a bright neon hue that your kindergarten-self would be jealous? Or B) you retained ab-so-lute-ly NOTHING? If you answered yes to either (most likely both), you are a victim of “Over-Highlighting”!!

Don't be a victim of Over-Highlighting!

“Over-Highlighting” is a common problem while reading – Take a look at your friend’s notebook or textbook next time you’re at the library – I promise you’ll see entirely too much highlighting. To keep this time-waster from happening you’ve got to stay focused and refrain from getting caught up in mindlessly “coloring” the page.

Try applying some of these tips on highlighting text effectively fromCliffNotes.com:

Focus on the main point– and that may not be the entire sentence.It’s perfectly okay to highlight only key terms or parts of sentences. In fact, you may get a better sense of the main idea of a paragraph if you highlight a string of words (excluding extraneous information) that lets you glean the main idea at a glance.

Consider reading the entire paragraph, and then going back and highlighting the important words and ideas.If you highlight from the start, you may not be sure of the paragraph’s purpose and how to best capture that purpose or idea with your highlighter.

If you buy a used textbook or other reading material, look for one with little or no highlighting. It’s hard to ignore the previous owner’s highlighting. In addition to highlighting, consider jotting notes in the margins, next to passages.

Now, don’t be a victim, highlight effectively and efficiently. Above all else,

Highlight so that you get an A on the test!

Sharpie Highlighters are the number one choice when it comes to highlighting and doing so effectively. Available in 8 different styles and 10 bold fluorescent colors, there’s a Sharpie Highlighter for your every need: